Changing Tides
by CayStar
Summary: Embry thought nothing would surprise him after turning into a wolf and fighting vampires, but Bella doesn't fall into either of those categories.


**Title:** Changing Tides  
**Genre:** Romance/Supernatural  
**Rating:** M (not really this one, but future chapters will be…)  
**Pairing**: Bella/Embry  
**Words**: 2,735  
**Disclaimer:** _All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended._

**AN**: This isn't new- it was posted on both Tricky Raven and BetterinTexas before they disappeared. Hoping it doesn't kill this site too...

There will be 3 chapters in all.  
This was inspired by one of my favorite graphic artists, SPRSPR on deviantart: sprsprsdigitalart. deviantart art/Stranded-501564387#

I cropped part of it for the cover image but the whole picture is just stunning.

~oOo~oOo~oOo~oOo~oOo~oOo~

**Changing Tides**

_He's making a break for the water! Head him off at the beach, Embry—we don't need him to get away like that redheaded bitch did_, Sam ordered harshly as he ran through the woods as fast as he could. He and Jake were still cursing the fact that the she-vamp had slipped through their trap.

_Bob Marley is cornered up here—we'll take him out_, Paul responded from the clifftops where he, Jared and Seth had pinned the dreadlocked vampire.

Embry stalked along the coast, moving quiet as the shadow his dappled grey fur resembled. His eyes were locked on the blond bloodsucker leaping from tree to tree on his way to the rocky shore. Just as the sickening scent of death and sugar reached his sensitive nose, he heard a soft splash, and another more tantalizing fragrance drew his attention.

Keeping an eye on the approaching leech, Embry took several steps closer to the water, drawn in by the light breeze laced with wild strawberry and honeysuckle. He saw her hair first—long brown hair, so thick and lustrous, even soaked as it was by the seawater.

_Sam, there's someone here. I have to protect her—how close are you?_ Embry's voice was quiet even in the pack mind, but the wolves' attention all shifted to the girl in his sights.

He thought she was unconscious at first, but a quiet sob was accompanied by a shudder that revealed her pale, bare shoulder. Her long hair draped modestly around her torso, but it was clear to Embry that she wasn't clothed.

One small hand was curled into a fist at her delicate collarbone, while the other reached around to clasp the opposite shoulder, covering her breasts and protecting her modesty from his lupine eyes.

She didn't appear to notice the waves crashing around her as she shook her head back and forth, crying softly into the pebbled shore. He watched in awe as one small wave seemed to reach up and softly brush the tears from her cheek.

As he took a step closer, he saw a flicker of movement from the waves where he thought the rest of her body lay. There was absolute silence in the pack mind for a solid three seconds when the motion was repeated and Embry caught sight of a shimmering blue tail covered in iridescent scales.

_What the hell?_

_No! It's impossible!_

_I don't believe it!_

"Marco, Marco, Marco! I'm so sorry, _mio fratello_. So, so sorry… _Papà_!" Her voice stopped the frantic thoughts that had distracted Embry, and the sound of it touched something deep inside him, drawing him closer still.

His next step was not as careful, and he dislodged a pebble, sending it clattering across the way. The girl looked up, meeting Embry's eyes in a life-altering moment that stunned him into immobility. Her eyes were a vibrant storm of cerulean blue, deep stormy grey, and swirls of white sea foam. He felt himself drawn into their soothing depths, like sinking into a cool mountain stream or soft summer rain shower.

The girl stared back at the wolf, unafraid of his size or proximity, and began to pull herself up further onto the shore. She wasn't as graceful on land in this form, but she shifted her tail to curl beside her as she rose up to a seated position.

As she rested there in the waves, a flurry of motion behind her wolf had her face transforming in an instant. Gone were the welcoming blue eyes and soft smile she had offered to Embry, and in their place was the terrifying sight only seen by a few unlucky sailors at the end of their lives.

Her white teeth sharpened into points like a shark, her eyes just as dark as her deadly sea cousins. "No!" she hissed, the unearthly sound nearly breaking the wolf's heart as he thought for a moment that the word was directed to him.

_Embry! Behind you!_ Sam's warning was barely enough, and Embry whirled on his feet to catch the blond leech as he began to leap toward the pair.

"Oh, this is a lucky day indeed! A mermaid and a werewolf! Twice the fun!" His voice grated on their sensitive ears, and the girl—mermaid as he'd pointed out—let out an answering screech that called all the sea birds in the area to swarm the beach.

Embry panicked for a moment when he lost sight of both the girl and his prey, but his brothers ran out on the beach just as he spied the blond ponytail lunging toward his sea beauty. His growl was as unearthly as her scream, but both cut off abruptly when the screeching metal sound of a dismembered vampire rent the air.

Focused on securing her safety, Embry phased back without a thought and reached into the shorts strapped to his leg to pull out a lighter. He lifted the corpse's head up by its stringy hair and lit the end on fire. "Have fun in hell," he hissed lowly as he tossed the head toward the twitching pile of limbs.

Completely forgetting his nudity, Embry turned toward the girl who was now staring up at him in awe, delight dancing in her soft blue eyes. She sat up a bit straighter, her thick hair falling across her breasts, as he crouched before her, trying to look as non-threatening as possible.

"Hello," he began, reaching slowly for her hand where it rested on her beautiful thick tail. "I'm Embry."

Her smile was breathtaking, and a small part of him was relieved to see that her teeth were no longer sharp and pointed, but smooth and flat like human teeth. She inclined her head with a rather genteel air and offered, "Isabella," in a slightly accented voice. "Thank you for destroying the red-eyed demon. I did not know such a thing was possible!"

Embry frowned as his thumb stroked the back of her hand, marveling at the smooth texture of her skin—less permeable than a human's, it more closely resembled that of a dolphin or other aquatic mammals.

"Have you seen others like this one?" He asked, automatically tightening his hold on her hand when her eyes darkened once more and filled with tears.

"Yes," she choked out softly. "_Mio papà_ —my father—he was just… he was just… he was _eaten_ by a she-demon right there in the water! She smiled at me as she bit him, and he told me to swim away. I tried to save him, but I just _couldn't!_" she wailed, collapsing into Embry's arms with little warning.

His back to his brothers, Embry sat down at the water's edge and pulled the sobbing girl into his lap. She curled into his chest with a shudder, her cool, salty tears wetting his skin as she pressed her face against his neck.

He didn't know quite what to do with her tail as he lifted her—its weight surprised him, as well as its dexterity. She folded it in half the way a human would bend her knees, and the delicate fin at the end waved softly against his bare leg.

Embry found himself mesmerized by her pliancy, the way she surrendered to him without a thought. He held her close to prove his protection, stroking the scales of her beautiful tail with one hand, while the other gently combed the tangles from the hair cascading down her back.

Her tears began to slow as she drifted into an uneasy sleep, and the voices of his brothers—also in human form—began to filter back into his consciousness.

"Do you think it was the redhead?" someone murmured softly, guilt radiating from every word. Embry clenched his teeth with a soft growl, not wanting to consider the idea that his pack's failure could have cost his mate—his imprint—her father, and possibly more. He couldn't forget the name she'd cried before—Marco.

She shifted in his lap, and her hair fell away revealing one small, pert breast. Try as he might, he could not look away, and he felt his body respond to sight of her pale perfection. He finally realized he was also nude, and he cursed himself for not slipping his shorts on before reaching for her earlier.

As she moved again, he felt a strange sensation against his leg, where her tail was resting. As he watched in stunned disbelief, the blue scales slowly faded and morphed as her thick tail melted into two pale, slender legs. Her tiny feet curled up to rest against his hip as she turned herself in his lap.

Now that she was seemingly as human as he currently was, his cock was sitting at full attention and taking notice of her beauty. Her sleep was undisturbed as his rigid length prodded at the soft skin of her stomach, mere inches away from where he truly wished it to be.

"Embry?" Sam's voice was close, too close, and Embry couldn't hold back his warning growl. Isabella's eyes flew open at the sound, and he was startled to see that they were now a rich brown, accented with flecks of moss green. Apparently her legs weren't the only things to change when she shifted.

Seeing the wary look on her face, he lowered his head without a thought and rubbed his nose against her temple in what turned out to be a soothing gesture to them both. She smiled softly as she closed her eyes and brushed her cheek against his in response.

"Embry, we need to get out of sight—the fire is out now. You can bring her back to my house if you'd like." Sam's voice was softer, coaxing, and Embry's wolf responded to his alpha's subtle nudge.

"Isabella?" He didn't miss the way she shivered when he spoke her name for the first time. "Are you comfortable on land? Will you come and meet my pack?"

He looked so hopeful that she found she couldn't tell him no, no matter how much the idea terrified her. Looking down, she felt a blush color her face, and she glanced over his shoulder to see his "pack" standing nearby.

"It has been many years since I last gained my legs, but I should be fine. If there are humans there, I will need to borrow some clothing," she whispered quietly, but not quietly enough that the others couldn't hear. Embry shivered as her lips brushed his ear. "And please, call me Bella."

Embry turned his head and raised his eyebrow. Sam was the first to respond. "I will run and get something from Emily, but you two should move to the trees at least. Even with the storm, someone may come by here."

With that, the boys slipped into the trees to phase and run back, the pack mind a strange collage of images—including an imagined one of a faceless merman being attacked by the red-haired leech they had allowed to escape.

With his brothers gone, Embry stood easily to his feet and sprinted for the relative safety of the forest. Bella glanced behind her a bit wistfully, but she told herself that the sea was not going anywhere, and she would return again soon.

Satisfied that they were no longer visible from the beach, Embry stopped running but found he did not want to release his mate yet. Her weight was negligible in his strong arms, and she seemed completely at ease with both his grip and their mutual nudity.

"Embry?" she spoke softly, her voice carrying a musical quality that soothed his battered soul. "Am I your mate?"

He looked down at her in surprise, sucked in once more to her open gaze. Her natural beauty stunned him all over again, and he felt himself nod without permission. "You're my imprint, yes. I will be whatever you need—a friend, a lover, a brother. But most of all, I am your protector."

She cocked her head to the side and made a small clicking noise with her mouth, one that could have been either in speculation or agreement. Her eyes made a circuit of his face, taking in every feature from his dark hair falling across his forehead, to his warm hazel eyes, to the straight line of his nose and his chiseled jaw.

A pleased smile was all the warning he got before she leaned up and pressed her lips to his. "I do not need a brother—I will call mine to me when I am certain the danger has passed. I feel the mating call with you, and you please me. You will be my friend, and my lover."

The warmth that filled him at her words was enough to chase away the past sixteen years of abandonment, neglect, and abuse he had suffered at the hands of his parents and tribe. The sense of belonging that had begun in him when he joined the pack was now completed by the small creature he held firmly in his arms. She was his, and he was hers.

Embry's head turned to the side when he heard Sam approach. The older man did not step into view, but called out, "I have a dress that should fit her, and some dry shorts for you as well. Meet us at the house when you're ready."

Bella stood a bit unsteadily when he finally set her on her feet, but after a moment she seemed to gain her equilibrium and she smiled up at him, looking pleased with herself. Embry was again taken aback by her beauty.

Her long hair had dried while she was in his arms, and the complex shades of brown and red fell in loose waves all the way to her slender hips. Her pale, creamy skin was unblemished and smooth, flowing over her curves like the finest white chocolate. He was surprised to find that he missed the contrasting blue scales of her tail, and he knew he would have to get her back in the water again very soon. He already loved his imprint—all sides of her.

Taking her hand, Embry led her to the spot where Sam had left their clothing. He pulled out a soft blue sundress that smelled of his alpha's mate, and held it up to Bella's small frame. It would definitely be loose, but it would cover the parts of her that he wished to keep only for himself.

Bella looked at the material dubiously, then held her arms up like a child for Embry to dress her. She giggled as she smoothed down the light material, and watched as her mate slipped on the strange short pants she'd seen the other shifters wear. "Fashions have certainly changed since the last time I mingled with the human world. I see there are many things I will need to learn."

Embry paused and stared at her as the thought occurred to him. "How old are you?"

Her laughter rang out like bells, bouncing off the trees and causing birds to answer her in song. "I am not certain. We do not keep time the way that humans do, under the sea. Many years though. Hundreds?"

His eyes widened in a combination of fear and awe as he stared at her youthful features. "You are immortal?"

She cocked her head again, a trait he found increasingly endearing. "I do not know this word, but my people do not live and die as humans do. Is it the same way for wolves?"

He shook his head in worry, as he did not know the answer. "I'm not sure. We do not age while we are phasing, but most stop because their mates are human. We will be different, you and I."

Her eyes filled with tears at the mere thought of someday losing her beautiful mate, and she threw herself into his arms, seeking his comforting warmth. She had lost so much already—her mother, so many years ago, her father just that day, and her brother was waiting alone somewhere for her to call him. She couldn't risk doing so until the demon that killed their father was destroyed.

Speaking soft words in Quileute, Embry carried her toward the pack. They would both need support as they moved forward together in their new life.


End file.
